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Monday, June 28, 2010

Superman: War Of The Supermen #4 (of 4) was published on the last Wednesday of May, and was a great ending to a great story. While the army of New Krypton ran through the rest of the heroes, the Superman family of superheroes were able to make a last stand against General Zod and his army, and save Earth.

Superman had good reasons to go to New Krypton. With Zod free and leading the military guild,

Kal-El needed to keep an eye on Zod, and his Aunt Allura as well. The Man of Steel wanted to be an example to new Krypton as he had been on Earth. He wanted to show them that, just because they were more powerful than humans, they shouldn't think of themselves as superior. And Kal wanted to train Kryptonians in the proper use of their superpowers.

The widescale destruction, including the destruction of the planet of New Krypton itself, was caused by the paranoia and megalomania of two men, Zod and General Lane. Both men tipped the scales against Earth and New Krypton figuring out how to peacefully coexist.

Zod and Lane had similar leadership philosophies, for the most part. Both were willing to risk their troops on dangerous missions with high risk of casualties, although Zod seemed more casual about sending troops to their doom.

Superman contrasted both men. He led his troops both physicaly and by example. And, whenever possible, he found a non-violent, or non-lethal solution to a conflict.

The Man of Steel's decisions on picking which heroes to protect Metropolis had far reaching effects. Ultimately, he picked the heroes who would eventually help him defeat both Zod and Lane. Now that's leadership. Conner Kent Superboy wielded the Phantom Zone Projector to send the last of Zod's troops back to the Zone, before Superman himself used it to send Zod back, and himself, after setting the projector to self-destruct afterward. The Guardian, Steel and Supergirl defeated Lane's forces, including Nemesis and Atlas. That scene had the only bad dialogue of the issue, between Guardian and Nemesis. No need to quote it here. And Steel got his revenge on Atlas.

There were things that Superman was powerless against. Zod's influence over New Krypton was such that they rejected Kal-El's example. Zod also manipulated Kal into helping train the very army that attacked his adopted planet. Chris Kent is now once again in the Phantom Zone. he sacrificed himself to send Superman back to Earth, while the Nightwing entity would guard Zod. Chris's exile is hopefully made easier by the presence of Mon-El, who played a key role in ensuring the Legion's future would exist.

Noone was untouched by the tragedy of the war between Earth and New Krypton. Superman was orphaned for the second time, after finding a group of Kryptonians so that he was no longer alone. Having gained a world that he had heard about but never experienced, only to lose it, had to be worse that knowing he was the last Kryptonian but never having experiencing his world. I wouldn't wish that for anyone.

Supergirl lost her world for the second time as well. Unlike Superman, she watched both of her parents die. so her grief is, in some respects, more personal even than Superman's.

What few survivors of New Krypton are now in the Phantom Zone, unless there are any remaining Kryptonian sleeper agents on Earth.

Lois lost her father, for a second time. She, and everyone else, thought he died defending the White House during the Our Worlds At War storyline. Not only did he commit suicide in front of her, but his animosity against anything Kryptonian put him at odds like never before with his oldest daughter. What does the future hold for her relationship with her sister Lucy, who was revealed as Superwoman. She was empowered by her father through experiments conducted at Project 7734. Will Lois get the truth about her father out, or will the world continue to consider General Lane a hero?

There are several questions remaining after the conclusion of War Of The Supermen. Have we seen the last of Zod? I would be interested in the ultimate fate of Chris Kent. I would like to see Chris freed from the Phantom Zone and adopted by Clark and Lois. I'm also curious about the future of Lucy Lane / Superwoman. The Guardian, his daughter and niece Billi have left Metropolis, and Billi, Mon El's old girlfriend, is pregnant with his baby. That should make an interesting storyline.

Next Week: Happy Birthday, Dan Jurgens!

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Originally, I had planned to highlight the series of backup stories, The Fabulous World Of Krypton, that ran in the back of Superman during the early 1960's. That was because June 16 is recognized as the day that Krypton exploded, according to our calendar (thanks to the Superman Homepage website). But, since the recent death of comic book artist Al Williamson, I thought I would highlight his contribution to Superman stories. He did not have a long run as a Superman artist, but it is worthy of note, and this would be my contribution to honoring his memory.

Al Williamson was born on March 21, 1931 in New York City and died on Saturday, June 12, 2010. He spent his early childhood in Bogata, Columbia, since that was his father's home country. Al returned to the United States at the age of 12.

He took art classes at Byrne Hogarth's Cartoonists & Illustrators School, and assisted Hogarth on the Tarzan Sunday pages as his first professional art work. Al made his professional comic book debut at the age of 17, drawing stories for western and adventure genres for a variety of publishers. He was the youngest artist for EC Comics during the late 1940's and early 1950's. Al was also noted for his science fiction story art. He also was an artist for comic strips such as Rip Kirby and Secret Agent X-9 (later renamed Secret Agent Corrigan), written by Archie Goodwin. Al was an artist for the Flash Gordon comic book, as well as the Warren horror titles Creepy and Eerie. He is also known as the artist for the comic book adaption of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Beginning in the 1980's Al Williamson began a twenty year career as a comic book inker. He was having trouble finding comic book work for science fiction and adventure genres, since there was not as much of a market for them as for superheroes. According to Eddy Zeno's book Curt Swan: A Life In Comics, Al pencilled and inked an eight page story, The Living Legends Of Superman, for Superman #400, October 1984. Editor Julius Schwartz liked his work, and asked Al to ink the pencilled art for another Superman story. When he brought the finshed project back, Al was surprised to find that his paycheck was more than what he had received for his pencilled and inked art for his own stories. Al asked Julius if he had any more ink jobs and Julie replied that he was now the regular Superman inker, over Curt Swan's inks. Williamson served as the inker for Superman 408, June 1985, through 416, February 1986, except for the Julius Schwartz birthday issue, 411 (the topic of episode #78). Al also inked DC Comics Presents (the other Superman team-up book) issues 79 and 85-87. He pencilled tow Superman covers, issues 408 and 409.

Al was very impressed with Curt Swan's art. He was familiar enough with Curt's style as printed to notice how some of his other inkers had not followed Curt's excellent line work. Al was impressed with the proportions of Curt's figures, and his portrayal of action. He enjoyed inking Curt's pencils. In the book Superman At 50! The Persistence Of A Legend, Curt wrote in an essay that Al Williamson was one of his favorite inkers, and repeated his opinion in an interview printed in Eddy Zeno's book. Al also enjoyed working for Julius Schwartz. He found Julius professional and fair, if deadlines were met. Al described Julie as being tough but good, and he always had a check ready when the finished art was turned in.

Williamson's time at DC was short however. While he enjoyed working with Julius Schwartz, others at DC were not as nice. Al described them as downright rude. He began working for Marvel, and he pencilled or inked about 152 stories, and 89 covers for them.

Al retired to live in Pensylvania with his wife Corina.

This short biography does not do Al Williamson's career justice. In the days since his passing, there have been many other articles written about him online. For a more in depth biography do an online search for these articles.

While I am familiar with Al Williamson's career somewhat, and have liked examples of his art very much, the only example of his Superman inks I have is Superman #416, published on November 14, 1985. The cover was drawn by Eduardo Barreto, and portrayed an old Superman, with long white hair and a beard, standing in front of the key to the Fortress of Solitude. This issue was my favorite Lex Luthor story, as I mentioned way back in episode #1: My Top 10 Favorite Superman Stories! http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/2008/01/Episode_1_My_Top_10_Favorite_Superman_Stories-190956.html.The Einstein Connection was written by Elliot S! Maggin, colored by Gene D'Angelo and lettered by Ed King. This story was reprinted in the trade paperback Superman Vs. Lex Luthor.

On a March 14 of some years in the past, Superman captured Lex Luthor after he escaped from prison, as he attempted to reach the New Jersey shore on a motorboat. Lex disappeared as he mentioned perfecting teleportation. Actually, he had made himself invisible, but Superman was able to follow him. the Man of Steel thought to himself that Luthor kept underestimating him, even though he was almost as smart as Lex. Superman followed Luthor after he had become visible again and hitched a ride on the back of a truck heading toward Princeton.

Luthor walked into an ice cream store and ordered a tutti-frutti cone with jimmies, just as He did, although we have no idea who Luthor referred to. The soda jerk behind the counter was actually Superman in disguise, and he easily captured Luthor, returning him to prison.

A few years later, Clark begged Perry to cover his flight to Europe to cover a story. Perry agreed after Clark said the magic words, what if the Eagle got the story first. Clark flew to Europe and disguised himself as a Frenchman as he visited a patent office. Lex Luthor was also in a disguise and working as a patent office clerk. After a disguised Superman presented the plans for a perpetual motion machine, Luthor rushed him out of the door, promising to let him know when a decision was made about his application, as he planned to steal it himself. Superman had seen through his disguise and captured Luthor again.

Finally, on March 14, 1984, Clark Kent received a phone call informing him that Lex Luthor had escaped prison again. As Superman, he flew to his fortress of solitude. Before he entered the Fortress, a giant elderly bearded Superman advised himeslf to let Luthor escape, this time. the young Superman ignored his older doppelganger and entered his Fortress. Inside, he searched the news service wire services he had installed for clues to Luthor's possible location. He decided to check out an archway made only of water that had appeared at a New Jersey lake. Near the archway, Luthor was in a building, studying the personal papers of someone. superman quickly captured Lex. Outside the Man of Steel saw another Luthor, this one in flying armor. Superman put Luthor down to check out this second one. Once he confirmed that it was a flying hologram, he caught the real Luthor again. While Superman checked out the fake Luthor, the real Lex saved a boy from drowning when the collapsed water arch washed him into the lake. Luthor didn't want him to drown on his birthday, although we don't yet know who he is.

We quickly find out. Luthor noticed that they were not flying toward prison. Superman flew Lex to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C., to the Albert Einstein statue honoring the centennial of his birth. A teary eyed Luthor simply said, "Happy Birthday, Sir!" Then Superman returned him to prison. End of story.

The second story, The Ghost Of Superman Future had the same creative team, except for Dave Andrews. In the distant future, Superman was interviewed by a group of future reproters on board of a space station. He answered a question about Lex Luthor, informing them that they explored the universe together, until Lex died. Superman asked to use the onboard Holocaster, a type of future TV (a few decades before HDTV.) He recorded a message, and we see a flashback to the scene in the previous story when the elderly Superman appeared outside the Fortress. We learn that the name of the boy Luthor saved was Calvin Anderson, who would grow up to become a world renowned criminal psychologist. He would grow up to cure Luthor of his criminal obsessions.

Superman beamed the message into the time stream, and recorded a copy onto a video tape (this story was created in the years before DVD's were released. He asked the reporters to mail it to the now elderly and retired Calvin Anderson, before flying into deep space again. This story was not reprinted.

I agree with Curt Swan's assessment on Al Williamson's inks. While his linework is thin, since he used a pen, it is not as lush as Crarles Paris' inks over Dick Sprang, for instance. but his inks give the art depth and dimension, and is a very recognizable, and enjoyable rendition of Superman.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Comic book writer and editor Ross Andru was born on June 15, 1927 and died on November 9, 1993. He was most well known as the penciller for The Amazing Spider-Man, with almost career long collaborator inker Mike Esposito. Andru was also known as the co-creator of the Punisher, with writer Gerry Conway. Other stories say Andru worked from sketches supplied by Conway in designing the Punisher.

His early interest was in animation, but he switched to comic book art. He received art training from Burne Hogarth at the School Of Visual Arts in New York City. His first porfessional job was on the weekly Tarzan strip, working for Burne Hogarth. Andru's comic book career began in the early 1950's, along with his work relationship with Mike Esposito, who would ink much of his pencilled art over the years.

Together they drew for a number of publishers, such as Standard Comics, fawcett, and Ziff-Davis. Andru's earliest Marvel work was for the story When Time Stood Still for Marvel Tales #103, September 1951. He drew steadily for Marvel during 1955 and 1956, for such titles as Annie Oakley.

Ross Andru's long association with DC Comics also began in the 1950's. His first story art for them was in All-American Men Of War #6, August/September 1953. Throughout that decade, and into tieh 1960's, Andru pencilled stories for DC's various war titles.

His first superhero work with DC was for Wonder Woman #98, May 1958. He would draw Wonder Woman stories throu #172, September/October 1967, collaborating with writer Robert Kanigher. Together they created much of Princess Diana's silver age continuity and supporting cast. Andru also drew for other various DC titles, such as Suicide Squad, Brave And The Bold and Green Lantern.

During the early 1960's Ross Andru created the Metal Men with writer and editor Robert Kanigher. They made their first appearance in Showcase #37, March/April 1962. The Metal Men had their own title for 56 issues, 1 - 41, April/May 1963 to December/January 1969, and 42 - 56, published sporadically from February/March 1969 to February?March 1978.

Around 1971 Ross Andru returned to Marvel, with Sub-Mariner #37, May 1971. He drew for a variety of Marvel titles. He was the first artist for The Defenders, who premiered in Marvel Features #1, December 1971.

Ross Andru began his long stint on The Amazing Spider-Man with #127, December 1973 through #185, October 1978. The Punisher premiered in The Amazing Spider-Man #129, February 1974, creted by Andru and writer Gerry Conway.

In 1976, Andru pencilled the first DC / Marvel crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider Man, written by Gerry Conway.

Ross Andru returned to DC Comics in 1978 as an editor and cover artist. He eventually returned to pencilling story art for such titles as Jonah Hex, Vigilante, Blue Beetle, Teen Titans Spotlight and other titles. He also contributed story art for the 300th issues of both Wonder Woman and World's Finest Comics.

He also did a small number of Superman stories. Andru pencilled about four stories for Superman, beginning with issue 204, February 1968, and ending with issue 216, May 1969. For Action Comics he drew seven issues, beginning with issue 363, May 1968 and ending with issue 393, October 1970. The majority of Andru's Superman stories were for World's Finest Comics issues 180, November 1968 through 195, August 1970. He also drew a handful of Lois Lane stories for Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane 105 through 110, May 1971.

The featured story for this episode is The Case Of The Lethal Letters, Ross Andru's first Superman story, which appeared in Superman 204, published on December 14, 1967. Mort Weisinger was still the editor (he would retire in 1970), and the cover featuring this story was drawn by Neal Adams. The story was written by Cary Bates, pencilled by Andru and inked b y Mike Esposito. The second and third stories were drawn by longtime Superman artist Al Plastino. Otto Binder wrote the second story, The Duplicate Superman. The third story was The Fortress Of Fear, written by Cary Bates.

The Case Of The Lethal Letters was reprinted in Limited collectors' Edition #C-31, October/November 1974. The cover was a picture of the Hugh J. Ward painting of Superman, which hung in DC Comics publisher Harry Donenfeld's office for many years. The painting can now be seen in the library of Lehman college in the Bronx, New York City. This edition also reprinted the Superman origin laid out by Carmine Infantino, finished by Curt Swan and inked by Murphy Anderson, with dialogue provided by E. Nelson Bridwell. The story began with Clark Kent being interviewed on a TV interview show hosted by Lorraine Delon. She asked Clark if the Daily Planet newspaper owed all of its success to Superman. Clark reminded her that Perry won his Pulitzer Prize long before Superman appeared. Suddenly Lorraine went into a trance and seemed to channel someone else, who warned Superman to give up his crimefighting career. The consequences if he didn't would be that harm would come to those closest of him. Then Lorraine came out of her trance and was dazed.

In the days after that, Clark kept his eyes peeled for trouble. A few days after the interview, he and Lana covered a new monorail that opened in Metropolis. Unknown to them, a mysterious person tampered with the controls. As soon as Lana boarded the monorail, the doors closed behind her, trapping her and separating her from Clark. As the monorail traveled down the track, someone warned that the train was traveling too fast, and was in danger of derailing. Clark quickly changed into Superman and saved the monorail moments after it flew off the track. After he put the train on the ground Superman discovered that Lana had disappeared without a trace.

The next day in his apartment, Clark received a telepathic message from mermaid Lori Lemaris. She was under attack by a sea creature. Moments later Superman flew into the ocean and watched her vanish before his eyes, before he could save her.

Superman did not leave anything to chance with Lois. He carried her in his arms as he flew over Metropolis. An unknown gunman hit Superman with a high tech rifle, stunning him and making him drop Lois. The Man of Steel recovered quickly, but Lois had disappeared into thin air.

That evening Superman made an appearance at TV station WMET and announced on the air that he was ending his crimefighting career. TV host Lorraine Delon seemed unusually pleased with the announcement as she left the station. She went to an abandoned warehouse which was her hideout (but isn't an abandoned warehouse always a criminal hideout?). There she had kidnapped Lana, Lori and Lois. Superman crashed through the wall to find two giant "L"'s. When they burst into flame Superman was suddenly weakened and in pain. Lorraine appeared, and took off her wig, revealing that she was actually Lorraine Lewis, a brilliant scientist who had disappeared. She informed Superman that the flaming letters radiated Q-energy, which she had discovered, from another dimension. It had the same affect on Superman as kryptonite.

She informed the Man of Steel that her motive for kidnapping the three women was jealousy, because she had wanted to prove herself worthy of being Superman's wife. The three women, however, had upstaged her, which we see in a series of quick flashbacks.

The first flashback was when the criminal Bal-Gra escaped the Phantom Zone. Lorraine had built a second Phantom Zone projector. Before she could adjust the settings to send Bal-Gra back to the Zone, Lois threw a small piece of gold krpytonite to the criminal. That stalled the criminal long enough for Lorraine to make the final adjustments and send him back to the Phantom Zone. But she felt that Lois had upstaged her.

In the second flashback, Lorraine was on stage, presenting a new invention to Superman at a banquet. A crazed gunman created a disturbance during the presentation. Lana Lang knocked down the gunman, but a shot grazed her arm. Once again Lorraine was upstaged by one of the women in Superman's life.

Later, Lorraine drove a mini-sub in the ocean, as she attempted to find an unmanned space capsule that had splashed down in the ocean, and was lost. Lori Lemaris and some other merpeople had found it and were taking it to the ocean surface.

After she reminisced about her humiliations, Lorraine decided to kill Superman with the Q-energy. But the Man of Steel had enough strength to break through the weak floorboards to get of range of the radiation. After he quickly recovered, Superman burst back through the floor on the other side of the warehouse, out of range of the radiation. That startled Lorraine, and she fell back onto the flaming "L"'s and was instantly cremated. Superman then rescued all three women.

I couldn't help but wonder, as I finished reading the story, why the warehouse didn't catch on fire, and why Lorraine wasn't poisoned by the Q-energy as well as Superman.

Overall, Ross Andru's art was good. He's not my favorite comic book artist, but in this story, his figures showed a lot of action. He drew a lot of diagonal figures, and in several places they extended beyond the panel borders, giving the art a 3-D effect. the only drawback to the layout was that in a few places, the panel flow had to be indicated by arrows. Otherwise Andru did a good job of panel layout.

For more information about the comic book career about Ross Andru, read the book Andru & Esposito: Partners For Life, written by Mike Esposito and Dan Best, published in 2006.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Comic Book artist George Perez is probably most famous for his work on The New Teen Titans and Wonder Woman. (Pardon me for not putting the hyphen above the first "e", but I don't know the keystroke shortcut for it.) Superman fans from the late 1980's and early 1990's will probably remember his short but great run as writer, plotter and artist on Action Comics. He has done some great work for Marvel, including runs on The Avengers and Fantastic Four.

George's first DC work was as penciller for the Firestorm backup story for Flash #289, September 1980, Firestorm Is Back In Town written by Gerry Conway. Perez's famous collaboration on The New Teen Titans with writer and co-plotter Marv Wolfman began with the November 1980 issue #1 - #91, July 1988. George's re-imagining of Wonder Woman after Crisis On Infinite Earths began with a new #1, cover dated February 1987 and continued through issue #62, February 1992. He served as plotter/writer/penciller for the first 24 issues, but gave up art duties for the remainder of his run on the title. Wonder Woman's first editor was now Vertigo chief editor Karen Berger.

Before his short run on Action Comics, George had limited experience with Superman. His first artwork for the Man of Steel was for Action Comics #300, February 1984, as one of the contributors of the 40 page story A Tale Of Two Worlds. He also was the inker over Curt Swan's pencils to Superman #423, part one of the two part story, Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow. This was the story that ended 50 years of Superman continuity. His next Superman art was for Action Comics Annual #2, as recounted in Episode #103: Superman In Exile Part IV: Action Comics Annual #2, 1989! http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/2009/12/Episode_103_Superman_In_Exile_Part_IV_ACTION_COMICS_ANNUAL_2_1989-262860.html

Beyond his work on Action Comics, George also served as plotter to Adventures Of Superman from issues 457, August 1989, through 461, December 1989. His only break during his Action Comics issues came with issue 646, when Keith Giffen took care of the art duties. As he explained in an article in the back of Action Comics Annual 1989 (and recounted in episode #103) George was looking for a unique angle on which to base his Superman stories. Using the classic Superman introduction from radio and TV, he considered Roger Stern on Superman as emphasizing the superhero part of the Man of Steel. According to George, Jerry Ordway explored Superman's human side in Adventures Of Superman. So that left George to emphasize Superman's Kryptonian side as "strange visitor from another world." Perez certainly did a great job of doing just that.

His first regular issue was as writer and penciller for Action Comics #643, July 1989, pubkished on June 8, 1989. George's first Action Comics cover was an homage to Superman co-creator Joe Shuster's cover to Superman #1. On the cover George wrote "In homage to Joe Shuster." This issue wrapped up the Superman In Exile and Intergang stories and set up future stories involving the Eradicator and Jimmy Olsen. Morgan Edge link to Intergang was exposed.

The next issue, Action Comics 644, August 1989, published on July 6, 1989, was co-written with Roger Stern. This issue wrapped up the Matrix Supergirl storyline, which began with John byrne's last Superman story. As I mentioned in episode 116, MegaCon 2010, http://supermanfanpodcast.mypodcast.com/2010/04/Episode_118_MegaCon_2010-303425.html, I had George autograph both of these first two issues of his run on Action Comics. While he signed this issue, i told him that the black and white Superman costume on the cover reminded me of the 1950's Superman TV show. He told me that the TV show was his inspiration for the cover.

Roger Stern would write the remaining issues that George Perez drew. Issue 645, September 1989, August 8, 1989, introduced Maxima, who came from an alien world in search of a worthy warrior as a mate. she had her sights set on Superman.

Action Comics 646 was the fill-in issue drawn by Keith Giffen.

Issues 647 - 649, November 1989 - January 1990 told the Brainiac trilogy. This story wrapped up the Lex Luthor storyline begun during the Superman In Exile story, where Luthor attempted to control Brainiac. Lex's plans backfired, as Brainiac was able to break Luthor's control and escape.

George Perez's last three issues, 650 - 652, February - April 1990, were part of the Krypton Man story. Issue #650 was an oversized issue, involving the entire Superman creative team, where Draaga began his journey to Earth. He wanted a rematch with Superman in order to regain his honor with a battle to the death against the Man of Steel. Draaga hired the driver K'raamdyn to transport him to Earth. K'raamdyn was an homage to Jackie Gleason's character on the 1950's TV show the Honeymooners. George drew the Justice League flashback sequence, about their first meeting with Superman.

Issue #651 was a rematch of Superman against Maxima, as the Man of Steel became deeper and deeper under the control of the Eradicator.

George's run on Action Comics was short but great. He did a great job of exploring Superman's role as an alien on Earth, through his conflicts with alien threats, from Brainiac to Maxima and the Eradicator. Superman's conflict with the Eradicator once again revealed what made Superman superman, his humanity.

The reason I did not elaborate on the plots of these issues was that the podcast From Crisis To Crisis is exploring these months of Superman comics at this time. For a more detailed and entertaining exploration of these issues listen to the episodes covering the Superman comics cover dated December 1989 to April 1990. You can find the episodes at the Superman Homepage:http://supermanhomepage.com/news.php, or The Fortress Of Baileytude: http://www.fortressofbaileytude.com./ Episodes are also available at iTunes.

Next Episode: Happy Birthday, Ross Andru!

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